How To Plant Grass Seed Quickly and Easily
A few handfuls of grass seed mixed with a few bags of cheap topsoil makes filling in bare spots in your lawn a snap!
Since I had a professional come in and clean out the crater in my ugly backyard, I’ve been practically obsessed with growing enough grass over the large area of dirt that was left after all the stone and sand were removed. I don’t have a lot of time because I have an infant son, so I wanted to plant grass but not spend a whole weekend doing it. In just a few weeks I’ve been able to get a fairly good base of grass growing using a little trick I started using last year when I had some bare spots I had to repair in my lawn.
As I’ve said before, my lawn isn’t exactly golf course quality at this point, so I haven’t been too fussy about what kind of grass I have growing at the moment, as long as it is indeed grass and as long as it is green. Remember, this is a 45 year old home and lawn that has been neglected for the past 5 years, so anything green I can get down on the ground is a good thing!
I used to plant grass seed the “slow” way were I would prep the ground with a rake, put down a thin layer of top soil, sprinkle my grass seed and then put down another layer of top soil. Depending upon the situation I would sometimes rake it over lightly and put down more seed and more soil all over again. This works, but I found myself spending a lot of time and using up a lot of soil on a small spot.
My method for growing grass quickly is really pretty straight forward, but it does require you to have a few things:
- 5 lb Grass Seed (cheap stuff is okay, but you get what you pay for)
- 2 – 3 Medium (20 lb) Bags of Top Soil (again, cheap stuff works)
- Wheelbarrow or Garden Cart (helpful, but not completely required)
- Shovel
- Rake (helpful, not necessary)
- Sprinkler and Hose
Here’s what I do:
- Pour a bag or two of the top soil into your wheel barrel and break it up a little bit so it’s sort of loose. I usually just put a bag in the wheel barrel, bring my shovel down on end of the bag and then just lift it, letting the top soil tumble out.
- For each bag of top soil you used, take a handful of grass seed and throw it into the wheel barrel.
- Now use your shovel and just mix the soil and seed together as though you kneading bread and mixing in raisins or nuts. All you’re doing is mixing seed and soil, but you want to make sure the soil is fairly loose (easier to spread).
- All you do now is shovel out the soil mixture and lightly sprinkle it over your bare spot. I sort of hold the shovel with my left hand and use my right hand to just twist the shovel enough to shimmy the soil off the end. All you need is a very thin layer of the soil and seed mixture.
- Once you’ve distributed all your soil and seed mixture you set up a sprinkler and water that spot. A lot. I can’t emphasize how much you need to water new grass seed to really get it to start growing. If you pay for your water then you might want to consider waiting until they’re calling for a good day or two of solid rain before doing this, so nature can give you a little help in the watering department.
The new grass looks better than the rest of my lawn!
That’s it! This soil and seed mixture seems to almost always start growing fairly quickly for me because you’re putting down rich soil with seeds mixed all through it, not just on top or underneath it. Obviously, there are some good and bad times for planting grass seed, but most grasses are usually pretty hardy and will grow without too much trouble if the conditions are right.
I use this method for large areas as well as small areas. About three weeks ago I dug out some old rotted railroad ties from around my patio and filled in the indentation that was left with a few shovels of this soil and seed mixture. After two days of rain and a week of sunshine the grass had filled beautifully and actually looked better than the rest of my lawn!
Of course, if you want to really help the process along, you could rake over the bare spot to loosen up the existing soil, throw down a quick layer of seed, rake over the spot lightly again just to mix the seed in and then use the method I described above. When I know that I have plenty of seed and I’m not in a hurry I’ll sometimes do that as well and get grass growing within just a few days.
Oh, and just for a test I threw down some grass seed on a part of the lawn where I hadn’t mixed it with topsoil and spread it out. Some grass did grow, but it wasn’t nearly as full and tall and lush as the grass that was started with this method!
Want another test? I’m experimenting with growing grass on a brick! I review the Scotts EZ seed product and compare it to the method I used here. Check out the results!
Once your grass is growing you may want to help it along with some of these more advanced Lawn Care Tips and Tricks!
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[...] erica13 wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptOh, and just for a test I threw down some grass seed on a part of the lawn where I hadn’t mixed it with topsoil and spread it out. Some grass did grow, but it wasn’t nearly as full and tall and lush as the grass that was started with … [...]
Comment by Rob
I have an interesting way that my friends and I planted grass. The dirt where the grass should be was very hard and the water was running off, so we used a hoe and dug open the dirt so that it could breath and then we noticed that in our garden there was grass that was growing very thick, so we carefully dug out the “weeds” with their roots and transplanted them in the the freshly dug yard, amazingly the grass kept growing and actually spread out, so now the lawn is coming in really good.
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[...] Planting Grass Seed: After cleaning up the stones and debris I guess a lot of you have bare spots in your lawn and need to quickly plant grass seed. I find my method to be pretty easy and it always works well as long as I add plenty of that magic ingredient: water. I’ve learned that you really, really, really have to water new grass. Sure, some types of grass are more drought resistant and hardy than others, but without a good base of initial watering (a week or two at least) it’s difficult to really get grass to grow strong and quickly. [...]
Comment by Tom
Rob,
That sounds like a darn cool idea! I think this method of mixing the dirt and grass seed essentially does the same thing: give the seed plenty of cover and dirt around it to grow and grab onto. Even using this dirt mixing method I’ve sometimes loosened the spot where I want to plant grass a little bit with a rake if I’m in the mood.. .
Comment by Allison
DO you know any thing about how to plant St Augustine grass?
Comment by jimz
Water is the key!!
Comment by patty
In your planting recipe, you call for 2 – 3 Medium bags of top soil. What size bag is “medium”? How large of an area approximately will this recipe plant?
Comment by Tom
Ha! Fair enough… I usually use one or two 20 – 30 pound bags of topsoil. It seems like a lot when you’re lifting it out of a car trunk, but if you have a big area (more than 10×10) to cover, it won’t go very far. It’s more of an “art” rather than an exact science. I’d have to say that I use a good “large” handful of grass seed for each bag of soil I use. I just mix it well until it looks a bit like the photo above: you should be able to see plenty of seed throughout the dirt. I have to fill in a couple spots in my lawn where I was resting some bricks, so I’ll see if I can come up with a ballpark ratio for grass sees to soil and I’ll keep this post updated.
Comment by Larry Haskin
Is there any problem with using grass seed that is a year old?
Comment by Tom
Old grass seed may not grow quite as well as “new” grass seed, but if the grass seed is only a year old I’m guessing it’s still very usable. How well a grass seed works over time will largely depend upon how it was stored. If it was stored in a dark, cool, dry place and never exposed to any real moisture then, yes, it should be good to plant for at least a couple years if not a whole lot longer. So, yeah, go ahead and try planting that grass seed that’s over a year old. It should do just fine. If it doesn’t, then don’t worry: you haven’t really lost anything!
Comment by richard c
There are three words that I can say about this technique: superb, superb, superb!! I used Scott’s premium top soil, pennington premium seed, and mixed both in my wheel barrow. After applying, I covered the seeded soil with peat moss. After only one week I have grass growing all over! As a control, I seeded an adjacent small plot without mixing the soil and seed, and merely planted the seed on the existing soil. I covered that area with peat moss. After six days, I have some grass growing, but it is anemic compared with the aforestated method. Finally, I have planted another, adjacent area with top soil from an existing garden. I mixed that soil and seed, and planted with peat moss. That was done yesterday. I will report on its progress as the days unfold.
Comment by Tom
Ahh, a man of science! Thanks, Richard! I’ve since learned that this method is actually similar to how some landscape professionals on golf courses will plant grass: they basically mix everything together and spread it out.
Please let us know how the peat moss experiment goes :-)
Comment by Martha
so you don’t even need fertilizer?
Comment by Tom
Martha,
Nope, you never want to use straight fertilizer on grass seed or newly planted grass. Most fertilizers will actually harm newly planted grass. After your lawn is established then you can think about fertilizing it.
Comment by LL
“wheelbarrow” ;-)
Comment by Tom
LL: HA! I must have been tired when I wrote that… Okay… I changed “Wheel Barrel” to the proper term: wheelbarrow.
On a side note… I have a college degree in English and can practically never publish a post without a few typos, misspellings and other very simple language errors. Yay for the internet!
Comment by TheTodd
interesting concept — can’t wait to try it! bought 2 bags of topsoil at menards today for $1.10 each, one bag of vigoro starter fertilizer $10, and i have some left over scotts sun/shade seed.
my question is, in addition to mixing seed with topsoil, what do you think about also adding in the starter fertilizer to the wheelbarrow and shoveling it all on the lawn? isn’t this essentially what scotts ez seed and patchmaster is? would save one step instead of putting the topsoil + seed down first, and then adding fertilzer afterwards.
Comment by Tom
TheTodd: Coolness! I don’t see a reason why you couldn’t mix in starter fertilizer as long as it really, truely is supposed to applied right on top of grass seed in a normal application. Normal fertilizer will pretty much burn grass seed and newly started grass and keep it from growing….
I say: mix it all together see what happens :-) Heck, maybe do run an experiment and put one half down with fertilizer, one without and see if it makes a difference… if you do, send photos! I’m curious now, too :-)
Comment by TheTodd
i was trying to take advantage of the rain here in the midwest, but came home too late to do it today. i’ll have to try tomorrow.
yeah i’m definitely using starter fertilizer, not regular stuff. i haven’t decided if i’ll mix the fertilizer in with the soil/seed though — seems like it might use (ie. waste) more fertilizer than spreading it on top.
Comment by Robert Shoemaker
Gonna try your method since I have numerous bare spots after new seeding. A word of advice to whomever…don’t use a rototiller when preparing soil. Pulverizes and that leads to compaction. Not good.
Comment by Linda
I live in Colorado where we have already had a major snow storm. My question is about the temperature minimum required to grow the grass. Since we have varied from 30 to 70 degrees, is it better to wait until spring? Also, do you need DIRECT sun to germinate the seeds? We have shade right now on the north side of our home. Thanks.
Comment by Tom
Linda,
Yes! As long as you’re planting “cool weather” grass (Kentucky Bluegrass, fescue, rye grass or a mix of them) then you can definitely plant grass before, during or even after it has snowed. In fact, a lot of people actually recommend planting grass seed right as a snow storm is beginning. Why? Because the snow is moist, it will cover the grass seed and protect a lot of it from being eaten by birds and small animals and the weight of the snow will actually push the seeds down into the soil when melting begins.
Really, as long as it’s above freezing you should be able to plant your grass seed. It may not get actively green and lush in 40 degree weather, but it shouldn’t be too harmed, either. You may not see the results of your effort until spring, but you should have new or thicker grass wherever you spread grass seed under snow.
Grass doesn’t initially need direct sunlight to start growing (lots of people cover their seed with soil), but it does need warmth to get started. After it starts growing then then the type of grass (sun, shady) may determine how much sunlight it really needs to grow well.
There are lots of answers to the old question of “When is the best time to plant grass seed?” and there aren’t many times when grass won’t grow as long as you’re using the right seed.
Comment by Karen Taylor
Hi Tom,
Do you happent to know what type of seed is in Scott’s EZ Seed? Also, will this method work with warm weather seed like Centipede?
Thanks!
Comment by John Jenkins
Planted grass strawed it. When does one take the straw off. Or just chop and leave it.
Comment by saintsfan581
I need some advice. I moved to a new subdivision, but the back yard was not sodded when I bought the house. I want to plant centipede grass seeds to match the sod that is laid in the front yard. Assuming I use your method listed, would you also suggest using a tiller to break up the hard ground?
Comment by Tom
Saintsfan581,
If you’ve got the time to really lay down a full lawn then, yes, breaking up the ground a little bit (especially if it’s been laying unused for a long time) never hurts. I generally don’t have to do that as long as I use my own soil and keep things pretty moist. Instead of using a tiller you may be able to just wait for a good rain or hose it down a bit and then use a garden rake to break it up. If you really wanted to be thorough you could use a shovel and just turn the dirt a little bit.
The method I suggest here involves taking soil from somewhere (or buying it) and mixing it with seed. If you’re going to be buying dirt to mix your seed with, then breaking up the ground may not be 100% necessary but it really couldn’t hurt much.
I used this method for filling in patches or rough areas. I’ve been told that this is basically how many golf courses care for their greens as well. I have not tried it on an entire lawn, but there’s no reason why it wouldn’t work as long as you kept things damp. Really, to start grass you need a lot of steady water. Good luck!
Comment by Josh
Hey everyone I have 2 dogs(boxer,lab) that feel stopping grass and barking is what you do when you see a cat. I live in Alabama but my yard looks like the sierra desert. Packed in dirt, chirp, small craters from digging, and in the really packed areas cracks in the dirt. When I mow the little grass I have it looks like a dust storm. I have been told that if you freeze your grass seed then spread it will grow better given that you also do the normal process. Has anyone else heard this? And is it fact? I heard it tricks the seed into believing it is spring.
Comment by Mary Robinson
We have no grass and very sandy soil. Is it necessary to keep the dog completely off of the area planted using this method in order for the grass to come up?
Comment by Tom
Mary,
It’s probably best to keep the dog off the area where you put down grass seed and soil. A walking dog (or anything else) might trample the seed into the sandy soil enough to prevent your seeds from starting as well as they really should. Grass can grow in sandy soil, but if the roots can’t get established and build a good hold on to the ground your lawn may not get as thick or healthy as it could. I live a few miles from the beach so we have some sandy soil in spots around my neighborhood. A few of my neighbors have actually had trucks dump a 4 to 5 inches of top soil right on their lawn in the spring and they spend the season getting a completely new lawn established. This is a lot of work initially, but usually pays off as long as the yard is kept moist and healthy for the first year.
Comment by stacey
Re planting grass: your method sounds easy, but like Mary I too have a dog that loves to run on the front “lawn” (I use that term loosely). Besides keeping the dog in, or building a temporary fence, can I put straw on top or something like that for a little protection? Also how long does my Lab need to be kept away? Thanks!
Comment by Marina
We just planted our whole yard using your method! 10 days later my grass started growing!!! I cannot express how excited I am! I may post pictures of “before and after” later on if I figure out how to do it. One thing though. I did put some straw on top. I have a little sloppy area and don’t want rain to wash down all the seeds/topsoil. I was told that I won’t need to do anything with the straw as it will decompose, but now that I saw some comments here I don’t know… Please, advise. And thanks again for such a great tip!!!!
Comment by zach
I live in AZ. It is now late May. Recently spread topsoil and then seed onto bare spots. I watered 3x a day, 5mins for 7days. 3weeks later, it looks worse and drier than it did before. What is the best year round grass to use and the best seeding method to use in this heat.
Comment by Tom
Zach,
I would imagine the best grass to grow in Arizona in late May would be “cement” ;-)
I’m not an expert on all the different types of grass, but from what I understand Bermuda grass is probably your best bet in the heat and dryness of Arizona, especially with summer coming. Your local garden center or nursery should also be able to help you pick the best grass for your conditions. You may even want to bring in a small soil sample for testing. There’s a chance it’s not just the grass that’s the problem. Good luck!
Comment by Larry
Hi Tom: Our driveway is located on a decent downhill slope. The unusual heavy rains we have been having have washed away one or two inches of soil from the edges of our driveway. I have filled in with top soil but the heavy rains keep coming and washing away the soil. What do you recommend I do?
Comment by Tom
Larry,
My only suggestion for keeping the rain from washing away each time you plant it would be to try putting up one of those small fabric fence around the area where you’re planting grass and covering it with a layer of straw or some other specialized covering that will protect it from the elements but still allow grass to grow through.
I envy your problem… I’ve had just the opposite problem: it’s basically too dry for my grass to grow anywhere in my yard, even the well-established stuff.
Good luck!